I do not own Zero no Tsukaima or YuGiOh! They belong to their respective creator and not me. I am only writing this for fun and in response to the idea Kamen Rider Chrome posted under the same name.
Duelist of Zero
Idea by Kamen Rider Chrome
Story by Ten-Faced Paladin
Chapter 1: Gandalfr’s Game
Before being so forcefully transported to this world, Saito was on his way to pick up his Duel Disk from the shop. It’d been broken so he sent it over to be repaired. He had applied to Duel Academy and was planning on going to the entrance exam the following exam when he ended up being summoned by Louise and becoming her familiar, even losing his first kiss to boot. Sure, she was cute, but loud, bossy, and rude too. Not only that but he was going to be in a world of pain.
Saito grunted in pain from the punch he’d received from the Bronze Golem. The whole situation started when he had spotted the bishonen student drop a bottle of fragrance which he had probably gotten from his girlfriend. Being a nice guy, Saito returned it to him. It turned out that the rose-wielding wizard did get it from his girlfriend, one that the girl he was flirting with didn’t know about. The girl was understandably upset and made a big show of reaming Guiche out in front of everyone. Embarrassed at being caught, Guiche in turn decided to take it out on Saito, challenging him to a duel.
Being a duelist to the internationally acclaimed game Duel Monsters, Saito agreed before he remembered that he was in a different world which probably never had Duel Monsters. Out in the courtyards that became more apparent when Guiche the Bronze summoned one of his Bronze Golems and sent it after Saito.
Guiche snickered as he watched Saito struggle to stand, clutching his stomach from the impact from the Bronze Golem’s punch. He was panting, exhausted from dodging and taking that one hit definitely did not help. Louise, however, was frightened. Bronze Golems were many times stronger than humans when they were made right and part of Guiche’s reputation stemmed from just how well he made them.
“Guiche, stop this now!” Louise demanded. Saito may have been a lousy familiar thus far, but he was still her familiar and she didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him!
“Oh, I will, but only after this commoner kneels and begs for forgiveness,” said Guiche, snickering at the pain Saito was in. No one made a fool of him in front of his peers and got away with it.
“Never,” Saito growled. He had his pride, after all. All anyone did in this stupid school was look down on others just because they were able to use magic. People jeered and mocked him, calling him ‘commoner’ left and right and it was starting to really tick him off. Guiche’s little act of toughness just made it the final straw!
“Then, don’t blame me for what I am about to do,” Guiche shrugged. If the commoner wanted to be disobedient then he should be ready to accept the consequences. Looking up to his construct, he gave his next order. “Now, finish him!” he commanded his spear-wielding Bronze Golem.
“SAITO!!!” Louise cried out as Saito was about to receive a violent haymaker. Saito grit his teeth and prepared for the worst. He was just too tired and winded to make another dodge. Maybe if he was knocked out he’d wake up in his own bed and not a pile of straw.
He waited for the blow, but it never came. Guiche may have milked the fight for the drama but this was a little much! Saito opened his eyes which he’d screwed shut when the Golem attacked. He blinked in confusion as he saw the fist of the Golem frozen inches from his face. He looked around. Everyone was silent. Correction: everyone was frozen.
“What is this?” Saito blinked.
“Saito Hiraga,” a voice called and Saito looked to see someone approaching him. The ordinary boy turned around to see who was talking and was met with the image of darkness which was almost an illuminated light in itself.
“You’ve got a bad habit of getting yourself into trouble,” the darkness sighed. “I can already guess that things are not going to be easy with you.”
“H-huh?” Saito blinked, now utterly confused.
“Well we were going to eventually meet anyway. May as well do it now instead of later,” the darkness shrugged…if darkness could shrug. “But this meeting is going to have to be pretty short since you’re in the middle of getting your butt kicked.”
“Hey!” Saito cried back. “I’d be winning if he didn’t wuss out and use those golems to fight for him!”
“Nobles in this world always use magic to fight for them,” the darkness retorted. “They’re useless at anything else. If you’re going to win this fight then you’re going to need my help.”
Saito blinked, “Help? How?”
“You’re a duelist aren’t you?” asked the darkness. “Use that.”
“But I lost my cards when I was called here!” the normal boy replied. “Even if I had them I doubt a bunch of fancy holograms are going to win me anything in this kind of duel. His golems are real and my monsters aren’t!”
“Oh ye of little faith,” the darkness chuckled. “You let me take care of that.”
Saito would have tried to argue, but a stinging sensation in his right arm cut him off. Grunting from the surprising pain, he looked down to see what it was. To his surprise, a yellow marking began to shine through the sleeve of his sweater. Unlike the Nordic runes on his left hand, this new marking looked like a pair of yellow rings with a dot in the centre of each one.
The marking shone for a second before there was a blast of light which created a wrist-mounted Tao symbol that was attached to his wrist via metal clamp. Saito blinked at the odd machine before the Yin side of the device opened and a tray of panels slipped out. The Yang half slipped away from the machine to reveal a life point counter, a discard slot, and most importantly of all…
“My cards?-!” Saitoh cried, daring to hope what he was seeing was real.
“You dropped them when you got sucked into the Void Realm,” the darkness explained. “You’re lucky I managed to find them before I left or else you’d be in this little brawl with nothing but your bare hands.”
“So…I can use this to win?” asked Saito.
“Yes,” the darkness answered. “Now, it’s time to show these arrogant little snots just what TRUE magic is!”
The darkness flared before everything turned white for Saito. In a flash, he found that things had begun moving again and he was a proper distance away from Guiche, making for a perfect space for a duel. Just ahead of him, the Bronze Golem that Guiche had sent to attack him stumbled from its target having suddenly vanished.
“How did you-?” Guiche blinked. How did the commoner move so fast?
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Saito grinned, taking five cards from the top of his deck. “I was a little thrown off by how you guys duel here, but now I think I can adapt well enough. Now that you’ve had your fun, it’s time to duel!”
“Now it’s time to duel?-!” demanded Guiche, looking more than a little confused. “Fool! I have been doing this from the start!”
Ignoring him, Saito took another card, “Ore no Ta-n! Doro!” People began to whisper around him as they heard him speak in his native Japanese rather than the language they had come to expect. Taking one card from his hand, he dropped it onto one of the spaces on his disk. “Eremento Zaurusu (Element Saurus) o kougekihou shōkan!”
A portal appeared in front of Saito and emerging from it was a large dinosaur which was had earthen brown skin. Red spikes ran down its back while its legs had illuminated pale brown spikes jutting out of its skin. (4/1500/1000)
“Next, Mahou Kado, Dyuaru Samon (Double Summon) hatsudou!” Saito placed a card inside one of the slots underneath he panels. Many of the surrounding students gasped when they saw the large green card appear with the image of a wizard summoning a horned creature of some kind. “This spell allows me to normal summon a monster a second time! Now, Kitsune Bi (Fox Fire) o shubihou shōkan!”
Another light appeared before a large fox emerged with a small fireball at the end of its tail. Beneath it, it’s card appeared sideways while the creature itself crouched low in a protective stance. (2/300/200)
Saito then glanced at the Element Saurus whose red spikes on its back began to glow just like the brown ones on its legs. Smirking, Saitoh continued to speak, “Eremento Zaurusu no kouka hatsudou! When a monster aligned with EARTH is on the field, my Element Saurus can stop the effects of enemy creatures it destroys. When a monster of FIRE is on the field, it gains 500 extra attack points!”
Element Saurus roared loudly as a set of numbers appeared beside it before they stared to rise. (1500 → 2000)
“Now Element Saurus, attack that Bronze Golem! Element Roar!” Saito ordered loudly.
The dinosaur reared back before unleashing a powerful roar which had fire streaming from the back of its throat. The flames screamed through the air, turning the grass black as it went before colliding with the Bronze Golem which immediately melted from the temperatures into a molten pool of slag.
“EEEK!” Guiche screamed in a rather unmanly fashion as he backed away from the molten bronze. “H-H-How are you doing this?-! You’re a commoner! A plebian! You can’t use magic!”
“I never said I was a commoner, I’m a duelist!” Saito grinned. Oh seeing the playboy squirm like this was going to be a fond memory for a long time to come, especially after having those golems beat him up. Still, he hadn’t gotten his pound of flesh out of the guy just yet. He took one card and slipped it into a slot, making a large version of it in front of him. “Kado ichi mai settei! Ta-n endo!”
Panting, Guiche stood back up again to stare down Saito and his strange creatures. Element Saurus? Fox Fire? He had never heard about any such creatures before. Just where did he get them from?
‘It doesn’t matter!’ Guiche reminded himself. ‘He’s just a low-bred cur who doesn’t know his place, strange magic or not! I have to win!’ The blonde reared back his wand and prepared to summon several golems at once. “I’ll summon an army of my Bronze Golems and overrun you!”
“I don’t think so!” Saito barked back, pressing a button on his disk which flipped the hidden card up. “Kauntā Torapu! Fūma no Juin! (Cursed Seal of Forbidden Spell) By discarding Ribbon of Rebirth from my hand, I can negate the activation of a spell and forbid you from using it for the rest of the duel! So say goodbye to your golems!”
Dropping a card into the graveyard slot, the purple card with the yellow seal on the ground flashed brightly. Beneath Guiche’s feet appeared a bright yellow and intimidating appeared with red smoke rising up from the edges. Guiche flinched, but he waved his wand to summon his golems.
Only nothing happened.
“Wha-?-!” he cried out in shock. Sputtering in complete confusion and more than a little fear, he looked out at Saito.
“Can’t move? Then I’ll go,” the Tokyo teen grinned. “Ore no Ta-n! Doro!” Taking his next card, he gave it a look before looking to Guiche. “I’ll switch my Fox Fire into attack mode.” The card with the fox picture on it vanished as the fox got onto its hind feet. “Now I’ll attack you directly with Element Saurus and Fox Fire!”
The dinosaur bellowed once again and fired another blazing roar while the fox gave off a quick bark before spitting out a fireball. The streams of flame cut through the air, making a large streak of black grass on the ground before crashing into Guiche. The boy gave off a very unmanly scream as he was launched backwards before skidding on his back with the front of his shirt scorched. The flames vanished, but Guiche never got back up. He was out cold and dead to the world.
“Guiche!” the curly blonde, Montmorency cried as she ran to check on the blonde boy.
“Guess I win,” Saito nodded, taking his cards back while his monsters vanished. Replacing them on his disk, he let the machine fold back into itself to look like an oversized wrist decoration.
Around him the courtyard was silent as all of the students were gaping openly at what had just occurred. Fantastic monsters, spells no one had ever heard of before, and creatures which no one had ever seen before anywhere. No one was sure what to do about what they had seen, but there was a split camp about how cool it was and how scary it was.
Then there was clapping.
Everyone in the area turned to see who was making the noise before finding the source to be Siesta the maid, likely Saito’s only friend in the entire school. The maid was beaming with both relief and joy in her eyes. She was just as surprised as everyone else about what they had seen happen, but the fact was that he won well beyond anyone’s expectations and with such strange abilities. The applause was also infectious as the busty redhead Kirche followed the maid’s lead, many others following after her in their enthusiasm and awe over what Saito had managed to do. The issue of the Familiar’s status as a commoner and a noble was put aside for the time being in favor of praising him for his amazing abilities.
(LINE BREAK)
Within the office of Headmaster Osmond, the perverted old man and one of his employees, Professor Colbert had been watching the entire duel on his magical mirror. Colbert had insisted that there was something special about the boy that Louise had summoned, but Osmond didn’t think Colbert was expecting the battle that the pair had just witnessed.
“What…was that?” asked Colbert as he watched the duel unfold.
“Something this world hasn’t seen before,” Osmond frowned thoughtfully. This bore looking into.
(LINE BREAK)
“I demand you tell me what you did!”
In the aftermath of the duel, Louise dragged Saito back to her room so she could get some answers as to just what the heck he had done. So far, it involved Saito being thrown onto his bed of straw with Louise towering over him with a stern look on her face and her whip in her hand. She wanted answers and she wanted them now! She would brook no backtalk from her disobedient Familiar.
“Okay! Okay!” Saito cried, holding his hands up in a warding gesture to try and placate Louise. “It was a duel! We have them all the time back home! We fight them with cards that allow us to summon monsters and stuff! Please don’t hit me again!”
Louise frowned at her panicked Familiar, but she felt she had put enough fear of the Founder in her Familiar so she could get an honest answer, “So you are an experienced duelist back in your homeland?”
“Well, experienced enough I suppose,” Saito shrugged. Sitting up, he tried not to make any sudden moves in case Louise would lash out at him again. “It’s part of a card game which was developed. Where I come from, it’s the most fair and universal way of settling disputes and other problems. The people who are best at it are world famous and people say it’s impossible to beat them.”
“Hmm,” Louise pondered. This had potential. It seemed her Familiar was in possession of magic that anyone could use. Perhaps there was a reason he was summoned as her Familiar rather than a dragon or a griffon like she had hoped. This could be her chance to master magic and prove she wasn’t a zero after all!
“Teach me this method of dueling!” she demanded imperiously.
Saito blinked, “H-huh?”
“Do you need me to repeat myself?” Louise snapped, growing annoyed at her Familiar again. She raised her whip threateningly.
“Okay! Okay! I’ll do it!” Saito cried.
“I knew you’d see things my way,” Lousie smirked.
(LINE BREAK)
Outside in the Vestri Court was none other than Guiche who was more or less the laughingstock of the school at the moment. Not only had he been revealed as a two-timing playboy, but when he attempted to save face by dealing with the commoner who dared reveal himself, he was instead beaten with the commoner’s power and made to look like a fool. When he regained consciousness, Montmorency seemed to be sympathetic to him for all of five minutes while she determined if he was healthy or not. When she was sure he wasn’t injured enough for the infirmary, she smacked him upside the head and berated him for all his pain being his own fault because he couldn’t stay faithful to a girl. She then left him in a huff to stew in his defeat.
“Ahh,” he sighed. “How is it that Montmorecny cannot understand? A beautiful flower must be properly tended to and appreciated. How can she punish me for gracing others the same attention which allowed her to bloom into the flower she is now?”
It should be noted the Gramonts were known to have hard heads.
So there the playboy sat, bemoaning his bad fortune and wondering what gift he could give to Montmorency to get her to forgive him this time. Last time he was in town he had seen a mithrill necklace for sale. Maybe that would do the trick in getting him back into her good graces.
As Guiche pondered on how to buy back his ‘true love’s’ affections, he did not notice a black void appear in the sky. That in itself wasn’t hard to do since the sky was black and the only way one would have noticed was if they saw the stars vanish. From within that blackness came a single sparkle. The light came down from the dark sky and fluttered towards the ground, shaped like a small rectangle. It landed lightly on the grass, twinkling in the low light of the Vestri Court.
“Hm?” Guiche blinked, seeing something tinkle not far from him. “What’s that?”
Getting up from his sulking position, Guiche crossed the short distance before he came up to the shining item. It looked like one of the cards which the commoner had used against him in that disastrous duel. Kneeling down, he grasped the item and picked it up. The item felt warm, as if he was holding a living thing rather than a piece of modified paper. The light of the card shone brighter before it burst, leaving behind a card in Guiche’s hand.
The card itself was black with three stars on the left side. The picture itself was of a massive golem made of stone and metal with strange vapor coming out of the creases in its armour. The face was narrow with a skull-like grin and bright orbs for eyes. There was writing on the card, but it was written in a strange symbolic language which Guiche couldn’t understand.
“Strange…” Guiche uttered.
The card flashed again before the strange pictures turned into strange symbols that appeared to be like brushstrokes. The language confused Guiche for a moment before the language changed yet again to reveal the words in the native language he was able to read and understand.
“Numéro Trente: Acide Golem de la Destruction,” he read out loud.
When Guiche read the name of the card, the item in question began to glow with white light that nearly blinded the boy. Rather than try to get away from it, his eyes turned dull as if he were entranced by yet another pretty face. On the area of his collarbone, a pair of red symbols appeared which took the image of a pair of numbers.
“Time to make a man out of you,” a dark, gurgling voice spoke from the glowing card.
(LINE BREAK)
Saito and Louise both slept in that morning. They had been up late with Saito explaining the rules and terms that came with Duel Monsters. He explained the yellow normal monsters, the orange Effect Monsters, the purple Trap Cards, the green Spell Cards, the blue Ritual Monster, and the white Synchro Monsters. The way to play, the elemental alignments, the types of monsters, kinds of spell, kinds of traps, and some of the special terms that came with certain cards. It made Louise’s head spin to have so many new things. Still, while her magical ability was zero, hence her nickname, her book-learning skills were definitely not so she simply grit her teeth and pushed herself to keep learning. To help her out, Saito made up several duel puzzles to help Louise get the gist of the game since she was so adamant in learning it.
It had been tiring for both of them since Louise would kick up a fuss about wondering why such obvious Spellcaster-Types like Breaker, the Magical Warrior and Defender, the Magical Knight would allow themselves to take orders from a commoner like him. Eventually they turned in for the night, but the sun was high in the sky by the time began to wake up in the day. However, it wasn’t because of either of them coming to their senses naturally…
BOOM!!
“LOOK OUT!”
“WAGH!”
“EEEK!”
“HELP!”
Saito snorted in his sleep and sat up, blinking about that the noise. Up on her bed of fine silk and extravagance, Louise sat up as well looking little better than a zombie with her hair frazzled and the dopey expression on her face. Both of them woke up in a daze, not really sure if it was some kind of alarm of if they had been dreaming about something that made noised like that.
“I’m up…” Saito groaned, rubbing his eyes. This only served to bonk his forehead since his strange Duel Disk and cards were still on his wrist.
“Huh?” Louise mumbled, staring into space.
“BOOM!”
“It wasn’t me!” Louise suddenly cried out, snapping to attention.
“What’s going on?” Saito groaned, getting up from his mat of straw.
Louise struggled out of her bed as she and Saito reached the window of the room which managed to look over a good portion of the school grounds. Rather than the peaceful day with students and some staff milling about, the pair was looking at complete and utter chaos mixed with a healthy dose of destruction.
The guards for the school were battling against what looked like purple golems made of metal spheres. The guards continued to fire their magic at the golems, but nothing really seemed to stop the constructs. Be it fire, water, wind, or earth, no attack seemed to slow the golems down as they beat up the guards and left them to stew in their injuries. Other golems were pointing their bubble-like arms at the academy doors and were shooting streams of purple liquid that were eating through the enchanted wood and stone like it were nothing.
Louise and Saito could only gape at the sight they were looking at. For Saito, it was like something out of a war movie only with sorcerers and golems fighting each other for supremacy instead of soldiers. Louise on the other hand saw it like something she would hear from a horror story about the realities of war. She turned pale and trembled slightly as the sight began to hit her senses as reality.
“How…is this happening?” she gasped softly.
“Don’t know, but we’ve got to get moving!” Saitoh replied, grabbing Louise’s arm he began to pull her along, “Let’s go!”
“Huh?” Louise blinked before she was pulled along. “H-Hey! Wait you brute! I cannot go outside in my night clothes!” She yanked back and got her arm free and began trying to find her clothes.
“Those things may barge in and kill us and you’re more worried about your CLOTHES?-!” Saito demanded hotly. Did anyone in this whole castle have a lick of common sense?
“I keep my wand in my clothes stupid!” Louise shot back hotly as she began riffling through her belongings. “I’ll be able to protect us from those things if they come through here!”
‘From what I saw during your class, that’s unlikely,’ Saito thought grimly to himself.
Suddenly, a loud crash came from the door, which caved in slightly from the impact. Saito yelped and backed away from the door, grabbing a tea table chair to use as a weapon. Louise scrambled to grab her blouse and she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door and began chanting. More slams at the door broke off chunks, revealing several of the purple golems pushing ahead to try and smash their way through.
“Louise!” Saito cried. “Doing something would be good!”
CRASH!
More of the door fell away and the first of the purple golems began to tear at the hole to get inside. Saito felt himself beginning to panic as he readied himself to smash the first golem, but Louise managed to save the day. Pointing her wand out at the golems at the door, she cried out, “FIREBALL!”
The result…
“BOOM!”
The doorway promptly exploded like a bomb went off, scattering stone in all directions. Surprisingly, the golems were no exception as the metal which made up their hides was shattered like fine china, littering the ground with the pieces.
“Woah,” Saito blinked.
“At least explosions are helpful somehow,” Louise sighed, trying not to cough on the soot in the air.
Free of obstacles for the moment, Louise and Saito made a dash for the hallways so they could get to the exit to try and figure out what was going on and how they could help. Well, that was Louise’s intention. Saito wanted to get as far away from the golems as he could.
“We’ll have to go meet with the headmaster and see where we can be of assistance,” Louise spoke as she and her Familiar ran through the halls.
“What?-!” Saito cried. “Are you nuts?-! How are we supposed to help out in this mess?”
“That’s why were going to see the headmaster so we can be assigned duties!” Louise snapped back. “As a noble I must do my part to assist my people in any kind of conflict!”
Saito withheld the urge to growl. Noble this, noble that, it was all Louise would talk about when she would get half the chance. So far all he had seen of nobility was a bunch of stuck-up spoiled people who thought they were better than everyone else at everything just because they could use magic. Louise seemed to act like her status dropped responsibilities on her which was in itself a good thing when compared to others like Guiche who were content to play Casanova with any girl they met and seem surprised when they got into trouble. Louise’s problem was that she had a hard time accepting that even if she was a noble there were things she just wasn’t able to do at this point in her life. If she could actually use proper magic, then helping out would be the right thing to do, but with her current abilities there wasn’t much she could do besides get in the way like he would!
Louise and Saito dashed to the ground floor of the dormitory and found more of the purple golems, but these ones were encased in thick ice prisons. At the doorway to the dorms were the busty redhead Kirche and her smaller friend Tabitha. The redhead was using her fireballs spells and her Familiar, Flame to knock the golems into piles for Tabitha to freeze into big chunks of ice. Both girls looked winded and a little scuffed up.
“Zerbst! Tabitha!” Louise called as she ran to her fellow classmates. “What’s going on?”
“Wish I could tell you Valliere,” Kirche panted. “Tabitha and I were about to go to class when these golems started popping out of thin air and attacking anything that moved and some things that didn’t! None of my fire spells seem able to damage them so Tabitha and I have been working together at freezing them.”
“No idea where they’re coming from?” asked Saito.
“Mystery,” Tabitha replied.
“So we know nothing,” Louise frowned. “Do we even know what they’re made of?”
Kirche glanced at the previously frozen golems, “Well, it seems like they’re made of metal but what kind I couldn’t tell you. They can also spit out acid which makes me think that a Water Mage and an Earth Mage are working together at this.”
“But how could they control so many golems at once?” asked Louise in confusion.
“If we find that out, the military may be willing to pay out a fortune,” Kirche huffed.
“Quiet,” Tabitha suddenly spoke up. Walking to the front door of the dormitory, she spoke a second time. “Surrounded.”
“HUH?-!”
The group of three students and one Familiar came to the front door and saw that a legion of the purple golems had surrounded the area around the dorm and were simply staring at the group with their blank round eyes. Although there were some sounds of destruction still coming from the school, one could have heard a pin drop at the dorms.
“Why aren’t they moving?” asked Louise, her voice trembling slightly.
“Waiting,” Tabitha murmured, her eyes narrowed.
“Very perceptive Tabitha!” a new voice crowed.
The group looked ahead where the golems were standing to see several of the ranks standing aside for somebody else. When the purple constructs had moved to the sides, they revealed none other than the swaggering blonde.
“Guiche?-!” Saito, Louise, and Tabitha gasped out.
Indeed it was Guiche who was walking up to them. Still, the boy had undergone a few changes since the previous day. The rose wand in his hand had its petals changed from crimson red to the darkest black. His eyes were narrowed and the pupils looked like he was sleeping or something along those lines. The collar of his shirt was open like before, but on his collarbone was sporting a large red marking which looked like a three and a zero. Finally, attached to his left arm was what looked like half a purple sphere with darker purple cylinders sticking out of it at random.
“Surprise!” the fop laughed. “I bet you weren’t expecting me of all people!”
“What’s the meaning of all of this?” Louise demanded.
“Simple, I am taking my place as the top of the academy,” Guiche grinned. He raised his black rose into the air. “With my new power, I have been reborn. No longer am I Guiche the Bronze, but Guiche the Acidic. With my new name and powers, I will take my rightful place as the most powerful man in Tristain!” A manic look crossed his face as he eyed the group. “All will bow before me and no one shall humiliate me again!”
“He’s gone off the deep end,” Kirche gaped. She glanced over at Saito, “I think you may have had your familiars strike him a little too hard.”
“I think I may have,” Saito gulped.
If Guiche heard the comment, he didn’t show it in favour of striking another pose by pointing at Saito with his rose, “Before I can begin my dreams of conquest though, I must erase the disgrace of the past!” his smirk grew. “Therefore I shall destroy the commoner who dared to make a fool of me by defeating him at his own game!”
Saito blinked, “Wait…you want to duel me?”
“Indeed,” Guiche nodded. “Are you man enough accept?”
“Well…I never turn down a challenge,” Saito gulped. “But if you’re going to fight me in Duel Monsters then you’re going to need a deck.”
“One I have already claimed,” Guiche snorted.
The maniac raised his arm and revealed the orb on his arm. The purple cylinders shrank into the stony surface before it split horizontally along the middle and opened up to reveal a deck and a slot for the graveyard. The side of the item face away from Guiche popped out five panels which connected to one another with what appeared to be the purple liquid the cylinders were filled with.
“Where did you-?-!” Saito gasped.
“My new power. Need I say more?” asked Guiche. “Now are we going to duel or not?”
Frowning, but inside more than a bit nervous, Saito stepped forward and raised his own Tao Duel Disk and activated the mechanisms which allowed it to move into its duelling position. Kirche, Tabitha, and Louise stood behind him with baited breath.
“Let’s do this,” he frowned.
“Gladly!” Guiche grinned.
“LET’S DUEL!!”
Saito: 4000 --- Guiche: 4000
“As the superior, I will make the first move,” Guiche smirked as he drew his cards. He started his turn by drawing his sixth card. “I will place one monster in defence mode to start.” A giant card appeared on the field to represent the hidden monster. Satisfied, Guiche made his next move. “Je placer une, carte face cachée! Fin tour!” The statement was punctuated by the card appearing on the field.
Saito didn’t quite recognize the language, but he could tell when it was his move, “Ore no ta-an! Doro!” Looking at the cards in his hand, he saw that he would be able to go into overdrive on his first turn! “First I’ll use the Field Spell Card, Magical Citadel of Endymion!” An extra panel slipped out of the end of the duel panels which Saito placed the card onto the new space before inserting it back into the disk.
The effect was instant as rings of magical runes appeared around Saito which spread out into the sky. The area of the Tristain Academy vanished to be replaced by a castle which was beautiful to look at and was obviously filled to the brim with magic with sections of the castle actually hovering above their bases. At one of the towers, a large glass orb with a golden segmented triangle inside of it lit up with mystical power.
Louise, Tabitha, and Kirche could only gape at the majesty of the palace they were standing in which had been their school just a moment ago. The golems and the two duelists were still there, but the world around them had changed. They hadn’t seen magic such as this before, and Guiche had a similar power at his beck and call?
“Whenever a spell card is played, my Citadel gains a Spell Counter,” Saito explained.
“I’m so scared,” Guiche snickered.
“You will be!” Saito frowned. “I’ll play the Spell Card, Cost Down!” Saito revealed the spell card which revealed a monster card that had two of its levels pierced with swords. “By discarding a card from my hand, all monsters in my hand lose two levels.” Taking another card from his hand, Saito slipped it into his graveyard which made the Spell Card flash while taking effect. The audience members didn’t notice, but one of the crystals which were mounted everywhere inside the citadel lit up.
“That done, now I’ll summon my Magical Marionette (5/2000/1000) in attack mode!” A blue portal opened before a sorcerer with purple armor on his arms and a purple mask concealed by a red robe appeared on the field. The Spellcaster opened its cloak and produced a puppet which had a purple gemstone in its abdomen and holding two daggers in its hands. “Now I’ll have it attack your monster! Marionette Mayhem!”
The sorcerer gestured with his arms and the puppet flew into action. It dove across the battlefield and slashed at the defensive card, ready to cut it in half. The card vanished as the puppet drew close, revealing a gangly body made of sand with a tubular mouth and large bleach white bones sticking out of its body. The puppet struck at the sand creature, but the blades just dug into harmlessly. Discouraged, the sorcerer brought his puppet back.
“Finding my Sand Moth (4/1000/2000) too difficult to overcome?” Guiche teased.
“Tsk!” Saito frowned. Taking another card, he placed it on his Duel Disk. “I place one card face down to finish my turn.”
Saito: 4000 --- Guiche: 4000
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC(Spell Counters): 2
“My draw!” Guiche laughed, still exhibiting his newfound arrogance. “Now, I’ll release my Sand Moth to Tribute Summon my Hieracosphinx!” (6/2400/1200) The Sand Moth split open to be swallowed into a rainbow orb of energy. From within the orb emerged a creature with a lion’s body covered in pale fur, but had a falcon’s head and large wings coming from its back.
“Just for the sake of politeness, my sphinx prevents you from attacking facedown monsters while it’s on the field,” Guiche explained. “Politeness met, my sphinx will slaughter your puppet! Attack!”
Hieracosphinx unleashed a cry which sounded like a mix between a lion’s roar and a falcon’s screech before it pounced across the field. The Magical Marionette tried to mount a defense, but it was pitiful compared to the sphinx and thus the monster was shredded.
“GCK!” Saito grimaced, his life points having taken a hit from the attack.
“Then I will place one card face down,” Guiche smirked, slipping a card onto the tray while his sphinx returned. “Turn end.”
Saito: 3600 --- Guiche: 4000
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC:2
“My draw!” Saito announced, taking his card. Eyeing it, he felt his own smirk come up. He glanced to Guiche and began his next move. “I’ll play one monster face down in defense mode.” The giant card appeared to indicate the monster had appeared.
“That’s it?” Guiche mocked. “From the look on your face I would have assumed you got something decent.”
“Oh, I did,” Saito replied with a grin. He took his next card and place it on the field. “I activate Book of Taiyou!” The card appeared which depicted an ancient book with markings similar to that of a sun on it. The appearance of the card made another crystal in the citadel lit up. “This card flips a face down monster into face up attack position.”
The card flashed and the face down monster flashed before energy as a young girl in plain robes with brown hair and glasses. In her hand was a staff with brown crystals on top. At her feet was a small mammal which looked like a devilish mouse.
“I reveal Aussa the Earth Charmer (3/500/1500)!” Saito announced. “When she’s flipped face up onto the field, I can take control of one EARTH aligned monster so long as she’s on the field!”
“What?-!” Guiche bellowed.
Aussa smiled and raised her scepter, making the crystal glow. The Hieracosphinx seemed entranced by the light before it bounded across the field to Aussa’s side where it nuzzled her. The sign of affection made the Charmer giggle as she pet the sphinx’ head.
“Now I’ll have Hieracosphinx attack you directly!” Saitoh announced. The large beast immediately perked up at the command. Aussa likewise heard the call and pointed at Guiche with a frown. The beast bellowed loudly and charged towards its former master with its claws bared.
“I activate Waboku!” Guiche announced, revealing his trap card. Three priestesses appeared and erected a barrier which the sphinx crashed into, but could not penetrate. With a growl, it leaped back to Saito’s side of the field.
“Turn end,” Saito growled.
Saito: 3600 --- Guiche: 4000
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC:3
“Then I’ll draw,” Guiche grinned, taking his card. Eyeing them, he felt he could take revenge for stealing his creature, but at the same time it would make things all the sweeter if he kept moving with his strategy. “I’ll play a monster in defense mode,” the hidden monster was set. “Then I’ll play a card face down to end my turn.” The card appeared on the field. “Turn end.”
Saitoh: 3600 --- Guiche: 4000
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 3
“Ore no Ta-an! Doro!” Saito cried, drawing his next card. He considered his hand and wondered what he could do with his cards when he suddenly he remembered the effects of one of his own cards that was in the deck. ‘I must be more nervous than I thought. I usually remember this at the start of a duel’
“I’ll sacrifice Aussa the Earth Charmer and Hieracosphinx to special summon a card from my deck!” Saito announced. Aussa and Hieracosphinx turned into golden brown energy which fused together. The energy then burst to reveal Aussa’s fiendish rodent, but it was larger with spikier fur and narrowed eyes. Alongside the creature was a ghostly image of Aussa with a white and blue ribbon around her shoulders. Saito grinned as the monster appeared, “Meet Familiar Possessed – Aussa!” (4/1850/1500)
“Attack! Earth Familiar’s Fury!” Saito ordered. The possessed Familiar let out a squeak as it and its ghostly mistress charged across the field at the face down monster. As before, the card vanished but this time revealed a positively humongous rat which was large enough to hold a skull in one claw.
“Ewwww!” Louise gagged at the sight of the beast.
“I hate rats!” Kirche shrieked.
Tabitha merely watched.
“Giant Rat,(4/1400/1450)” Saito grimaced. Even a rookie knew those cards.
The Familiar Possessed charged at the rat and collided with it, making the rodent explode. Guiche shielded himself from the resulting dust.
“Being in defense mode won’t save you either!” Saito added. “When Familiar Possessed – Aussa is special summoned like she was, she gains the ability to do piercing damage!”
“Bah, 400 life points are nothing,” Guiche shrugged. “My Giant Rat’s ability makes up for it. I can now special summon an EARTH monster that has 1500 attack points or less. I also have the perfect one in mind.” A card slipped out from his deck and he slapped it onto his disk. “Giant Soldier of Stone (3/1300/2000)!”
A light shone from where the rat stood a massive man made of blocks of stone rose up onto the field. Reaching to its shoulders, it drew two giant stone swords to use as weapons.
“I won’t end it with that though,” Guiche laughed. “Next I’ll activate Inferno Reckless Summon since a monster was special summoned!” the green card appeared which showed several identical zombies bursting out of the ground with unholy light. In response, another crystal in the Citadel lit up. “Now we both summon all of the copies of a monster on the field that we possess.”
“But I don’t have any other Familiar Possessed – Aussa!” Saito gasped. He had the other Familiar Possessed cards, but none of them were Aussa.
“That’s too bad. I have more Giant Soldiers of Stone!” Guiche grinned. The two cards came out of his deck and he placed them onto his disk. The ground in front of him shattered before two more Giant Soldiers rose up with their weapons at the ready.
Saitoh frowned at the sight, knowing that this wasn’t going to go well for him. All of the soldiers had been special summoned so it meant he could still use a normal summon. He could sacrifice two of the Soldiers to summon a powerful monster, but there was the odd monster that needed three to activate devastating effects. It made the misplaced boy fear he was about to face one such monster.
“I end my turn,” Saitoh frowned, already regretting the words.
Saito: 3600 --- Guiche: 3600
“I draw!” the maniac boy announced. “Now for the final monster in this duel.”
Looking across at Guiche, Saito saw that some kind of shadow had overcome the boy’s face and it made him look more insane than he did before. The boy from another world didn’t need a handbook to tell him that it was likely not going to be good for him.
“Now…I will Overlay my monsters together,” Guiche grinned.
“Overlay?” Saito blinked. He hadn’t heard of a term called overlay before. What was Guiche going to do?
Two of the Giant Solders suddenly turned into golden brown energy and soared up into the air. Quiche continued to speak, “Je vais créer un réseau de superposition de ces deux monstres!” On Guiche’s side of the field, a black opening appeared in the ground as energy laced around it making a spiral opening which Saito felt looked like a galaxy from one of those astronomy posters he’d see in school. The two streams of brown energy then dived down into the centre of the spiral, creating a pillar of light. “Exceed Invocation!”
The pillar of light grew larger as something truly massive emerged from the spiralling portal. It looked like a mass of metallic silver cubes with huge cylinders of purple fluid rising out of the mass like pillars. Orbiting around the object were a pair of blue lights which were no doubt part of the monster’s abilities.
All the while, Guiche continued to speak in his native language which what made Saito able to understand the others unable to comprehend, “Apparaître désormais, Numéro Trente! Utilisez votre pouvoir d'empoisonner tout autour de vous! Golem Acide de la Destruction!”
Guiche’s words seemed to have an effect on the construct. It rumbled and the liquid pillars sank into the metal core. Once the pillars were gone, the cubes began to roll over each other, shrinking and growing to place themselves properly and creating the true form of the monster that Guiche had summoned from the void.
Emerging from the object was a massive construct of steel which looked big enough to tackle down the main academy building. It’s body was mainly purple with a black chest. The centre in a horizontal line down the middle was clear, revealing the purple insides of the creature. The right side of its chest looked like ribs and at random points of its body and its fingertips were nozzles that were dripping with liquid that when it touched the ground, created a noxious fume as the soil was eaten away. The face was monkey-like with a large set of rectangular teeth with a purple forehead, gunmetal gray face, and yellow eyes. It bore a slight resemblance to the smaller golems, only much more evil and menacing. The massive golem stepped forward with its right leg and a red light shone on it, forming the same three and zero marking which was on Guiche’s collarbone. (3/3000/3000)
Saito couldn’t help but stare at the mountain of steel and acid that was staring down at him from Guiche’s side of the field. He had never seen such a savage monster before, much less an Exceed Summons. He had no idea what he was up against or what kind of effects it had. The fact that it had 3000 attack points made it intimidating enough!
THUMP!
“Tabitha!” Kirche cried out.
Saito turned to see the three girls and Tabitha had dropped to her knees, dropping her staff and was trembling like a leaf. Kirche was trying to calm the girl down, but she didn’t even seem to see the redhead.
“Acid Golem of Destruction,” she murmured, turning extremely pale. “One of the ninety-nine. A Demon of the Void. We’re doomed.”
“Demon of the Void?” asked Louise.
“Glad to see we are still remembered,” a deep and menacing voice chuckled.
Saito turned to look where the voice had come from. To his surprise, it had come from Guiche. The number marking on his chest was shining with a menacing red light. His face was in a truly twisted sneer but his eyes had turned to a glowing purple, the same color as the acid that the Golem was exuding just by standing there.
“Guiche?” Saito blinked.
“He’s not here right now little boy,” the possessed boy laughed. “My puppet has served his purpose though. I am now completely free from that blasted prison that we were chucked into by the imbecile Brimr. All that is left is to win this duel and I will be free to start up where I left off!”
Grinning savagely, the puppet pointed at the Familiar Possessed, “Now I will attack your Familiar Possessed! Exceed Acid Stream!”
The true form of the Acid Golem raised its arm and pointed its fingertips at the Familiar Possessed. A blast of purple acid surged from the fingertip nozzles and engulfed the Familiar Possessed, causing the creature to melt under the cover of the liquid. The surge continued and Saito’s shoulder was splashed by the liquid, first soaking into his shirt…but then melting it and burning his skin.
“GAAAH!” the teenager cried. Pulling at his shirt, he yanked it off, tearing the sleeve in the process as he threw the melting fabric aside. Left shirtless, Saito looked at his shoulder to see an angry red burn which had small blisters in it. “What…?”
“Now you learn the risk of entering a duel with a Numbers like me!” Acid Golem laughed. “This isn’t some little game where the worst you expect is a paper cut! You lose this duel, you lose your soul!”
“Saito!” Louise gasped.
“Darling!” Kirche shrieked.
“Doomed…doomed,” Tabitha trembled, her eyes riveted on the massive golem.
Saito felt his knees rock from the pain and the stakes of the duel he had forced into. Panting, he recovered his cards and stood up. He wasn’t in a position to run away and he doubted that Acid Golem would leave the girls alone or simply keep the little golems standing still like they have been thus far.
“So the brat has some courage does he?” Acid Golem chuckled. “Good. This won’t be TOO easy then. I’ll switch my last Soldier in defense mode before setting one card face down to end my turn.” The card appeared on the field, signaling Saito’s move.
Saito: 2450 --- Acid Golem (Guiche): 3600
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 4
“Ore no Ta-an! Doro!” Saito grit his teeth and took his next card. Checking it, he placed it with the others before pressing a button on his Disk. “I activate my trap! Pitch-Black Power Stone!”
The trap card turned up, revealing a large stone which looked like the crystals which were situated all around the citadel. The card flashed before the stone became real.
“When this card is activated, I place three Spell Counters on it,” Saito explained. “I can move those Counters to any card on the field that takes Spell Counters. I’ll move all three onto the Citadel!”
The stone shone brightly and send three beams on light into three crystals on the Citadel, making them shine as brightly as the others. The black stone then shattered, it’s effect resolved.
“And the purpose of that was?” asked Acid Golem in amusement.
“Simple,” Saito grinned. “By removing six Spell Counters from my field spell,” six of the seven crystals lost their shine and turned dark again. “I can summon the master of this Citadel, Endymion, The Master Magician!”
The darkened stones ejected spheres of power which lunged to Saito’s side of the field. They merged together to form a giant orb of power that shone radiantly. The orb then transformed into a portal which brought out a tall man dressed in dark robes with gold lines and an ornate headdress. In his hand was a hooked staff with a crystal like the ones of the Citadel sported. Similar crystals were on his belt line and on a magic circle that was attached to his back. (7/2700/1700)
“When Endymion is summoned this way, I get a spell card back from my graveyard,” Saito continued. Endymion nodded and channeled his power into his staff which made it glow with arcane power. Saito’s graveyard slot began to glow before his Cost Down magic card slipped out. “I won’t keep this card though. I’ll discard that spell card to activate Endymion’s other effect.” Saito pushed the card back into the graveyard. Endymion’s scepter began to glow as Saito’s grin grew. “Now he can destroy any card on the field I want! Like you, Acid Golem of Destruction!”
“What?-!”
“Yes!” Louise cheered.
“Bravo Darling!” Kirche cheered.
Tabitha remained silent.
“Endymion! Destroy that golem!” Saito shouted.
The master magician bellowed as he unleashed his arcane power which launched through the air towards the Acid Golem’s true form. Nothing stopped the attack as it exploded against the golem’s chest, sending smoke in all directions with a loud explosion.
“Take that!” Saito grinned. With that golem gone he could-!
“Is that the best you’ve got?”
Saito halted his cheering when he saw the smoke clear. To his mounting horror, Acid Golem of Destruction remained intact and completely unharmed by the assault from the master magician. “H-how?”
“Oh, did I forget to mention one of my special effects?” Acid Golem laughed. “Since I’m a Number, I can only be destroyed by another Number.”
“That’s not fair!” Louise snapped angrily.
“Oh, it’s only unfair because your little boytoy doesn’t have a Number like me.” Acid Golem retorted with a chuckle. “Anything else?”
“Yeah! I’ll attack your Giant Soldier with Endymion!” Saito barked. The master magician moved into action by collecting his magical power in his palm before shooting the orb of magic at the Giant Soldier of Stone.
“Activate trap! Rock Bombardment!” Acid Golem announced as he revealed one of his cards. The image was that of a castle being destroyed by rocks falling from the sky. “By discarding a Rock-Type monster from my deck I can deal 500 damage to you!”
“It won’t save your golem!” Saito barked back as the orb blew through the Soldier’s arms and torso before making the monster collapse into a pile of rubble.
“It wasn’t supposed to!” Acid Golem laughed. “I’ll remove Maharagi to use Rock Bombardment’s effect!” the trap card transformed into a catapult before the claydoll-like monster appeared in its launcher. The mechanism then released and sent the Rock-Type monster directly at Saito, which smashed into his torso and put him onto his back.
“Saito!” Kirche and Louise cried out. The boy choked and wheezed to get his breath back, but he managed to get back to his knees. A moment later, he was up on his feet again.
“Are you finished your turn?” asked Acid Golem with a grin.
“I’ll play The Dark Door and put one card face down,” Saito grunted, placing the cards on his Tao Duel Disk. One was hidden, but the second revealed a monster standing in front of a glowing doorway while others were waiting in the background. “Now we can only attack once per turn. Turn end.”
Saito: 1950 --- Acid Golem: 3600
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 2
“My turn! Draw!” Acid Golem announced loudly as he took his card.
The possessed boy scanned his cards before looking at Saito with a malicious grin. Frowning, he looked up at his true self, “Due to my own effect, I have to give up an Overlay Unit to prevent my effect from occurring.” One of the spheres orbiting around the Acid Golem changed course and burrowed into the purple core of the golem, making the entire monster flash. Acid Golem in Guiche’s body reached under his card and pulled out one of the Giant Soldier and slipped it into the graveyard.
Lowering his hand, he pointed out at Endymion, “I think I’ll just prolong your suffering. I’ll attack your Endymion, The Master Magician! Exceed Acid Stream!”
The Acid Golem’s body raised its arm and prepared to fire multiple streams of acid at the Master Magician and deal some more damage to the Japanese boy. Still, Saito had been prepared for such a thing and he activated his card.
“Activate trap! Half or Nothing!” Saito’s card rose up, showing off the Judge Man who was offering a person a jeweled golden axe and a regular wood and iron axe. “Now take your pick. Continue the battle phase with your monsters at half their attack strength or end the battle phase right now!”
“Tsk!” Acid Golem hissed. “I’ll end the battle phase. This buys you only one turn!” The Acid Golem of Destruction lowered its arm, letting acid dribble onto the ground. “I’ll end my turn.”
Saito: 1950 --- Acid Golem: 3600
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 2
“My move!” Saito grunted, taking his next card. His body ached and he felt like some of the local bullies decided to use him as their punching bag. Still, he pushed himself to continued. “I activate the Spell Card, Card of Demise!”
The card appeared on the field, showing a deck being cut by a Guillotine. As it appeared, a third crystal within the Citadel began to shine. Saito explained the effects as he began to draw cards, “When this card activates, I’m allowed to draw five cards but I have to discard my hand after five of my turns.”
Eyeing his new cards, Saito began his moves, “First I’ll play Defender, the Magical Knight (4/1600/2000) in attack mode!” A portal appeared, revealing a knight in blue armor with gold lining. He held a dagger in one hand and a large shield which had a Spell Counter crystal in the centre which began to shine as the knight manifested.
“Next I’ll play Double Summon!” Saito continued. Activating his next card and bringing a fourth Spell Counter to the Citadel. “This will let me normal summon a second monster. So I’ll summon Breaker, the Magical Warrior in attack mode!” (4/1600/1000) Another Spellcaster-Type appeared in red armor lined with gold holding a large sword and a smaller shield which had a glowing Spell Counter in the centre. “Since he has a Spell Counter on him, he gets 300 extra attack points!” (1600→1900)
“I’ll end my turn,” Saito finished.
Saito: 1950 --- Acid Golem: 3600
Magical Citadel of Endyion SC: 4
“Saito, are you crazy?-!” demanded Louise, “You’re wide open!”
“Just trust me!” Saito growled. “I know what I’m doing!”
“You’re crazy is what you are!”
“Crazy works for me!” Acid Golem laughed as he drew his card. “Now, I’ll activate my Trap Card Skill Drain! By paying 1000 life points, I can negate the abilities of any Effect Monsters on the field!” The card turned up to reveal Dark Ruler Ha Des choking as his powers left him. A strange aura came over all of the monsters on the field. Acid Golem of Destruction didn’t seem to mind, but Breaker, Endymion, and Defender looked like weights were added on their shoulders.
“Now I’ll attack your Defender! Exceed Acid Stream!”
The Acid Golem lifted its arm and sent out another stream of purple acid which was hurtling towards the blue knight. Normally it may have been easy to get around, but with Skill Drain on the field it wasn’t so easy to get around anymore. Still, Saito had his ways.
“I’ll discard Kuriboh from my hand!” the Japanese boy announced, throwing the small monster card into his graveyard. A flash was a result before a little round ball of fur with big eyes and small green hands and legs hopped out of a portal and positioned itself in front of the stream of acid. The creature let out a soft little coo before it took the full force of the attack and exploded, leaving the three Spellcasters unharmed.
“You brute! How dare you destroy something so small and cute?-!” Kirche raged at the possessed boy.
“Stupid furballs always getting in the way,” Acid Golem growled. “Fine! I’ll remove Giant Soldier of Stone from my Graveyard in order to Special Summon Gigantes in attack mode!”
Slipping the card out of his graveyard, Acid Golem dropped the card into his pocket. In reaction, the ground burst open to reveal a red skinned ogre wearing leather armour and holding a tree trunk as a weapon. (4/1900/1300)
“Next I play the Continuous Spell Card, Spirit Converter,” Acid Golem continued, placing a spell card on his Acid Duel Disk. He didn’t blink as another Spell Counter lit up. A machine appeared which had an open lens on opposite sides. “During my End Phase, I can sacrifice two monsters I control to reattach an Overlay Unit I placed in my graveyard to an Xyz monster I control, namely me!”
“Too bad you don’t have any monsters to sacrifice!” Saito grinned.
“Don’t I?” Acid Golem grinned as he placed another card. “It’s called Stray Lambs! When I play this card, I can’t summon anything for the rest of my turn but since I already did then it isn’t a problem. This card gives me two Lamb Tokens (1/0/0) in defense mode.”
In a flash of light from the card, another Spell Counter lit up followed by the appearance of two fluff balls with curly horns, four hooves, and sleepy faces.
“Now I move to my end phase and sacrifice my two Lamb Tokens retrieve an Overlay Unit for myself,” the two lambs turned into brown orbs of energy which were sucked into the machine before the blue orb came out the other side and flew up to orbit around Acid Golem of Destruction “After that, I shall play Magic Reflector to protect my Spirit Converter from danger.”
In response to the call, a machine appeared in front of the Spirit Converter which looked like a satellite dish positioned on top of spider-like machine legs. The legs dug themselves into the ground and projected a force field around the Spirit Converter.
“Turn End,” Acid Golem grinned
Saito:1950 --- Acid Golem: 2600
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 7
“Ore no Ta-an! Doro!” Saito drew his card. Looking to his field, he eyed his monsters. “First I’ll switch Defender into defense mode!” The blue Spellcaster kneeled down and raised his shield up to better protect him.
That dealt with, Saito looked over at the red ogre. It was a good opportunity to try and knock some life points off of the enemy. With no cards face down, he couldn’t miss the opportunity. “Endymion! Attack Gigantes! Arcane Might!”
Endymion collected magic power in his palm once again before unleashing it towards the ogre. Acid Golem didn’t do anything to stop it when his monster was destroyed, exploding into a cloud of dust.
“Gigantes’ effect activates!” Acid Golem laughed. “Since it was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard through battle, all magic and trap cards are destroyed as well! That includes Dark Door and your Citadel!”
The spot where the Gigantes met its demise sent out a pulse of red power which shattered Skill Drain and The Dark Door. The Magic Reflector likewise exploded, but left Spirit Converter without a scratch. The entire Citadel began to shake and rumble, only a little more needed to bring it down. Still, Saito wasn’t going to let it happen.
“I remove one Spell Counter from the Citadel to negate its destruction!” he announced, one of the glowing crystals going dark, the released energy causing the rumbling to stop. “Nice try, but with all of the Spell Counters saved up, you’ll have to destroy my Field Spell a few more times to get rid of it!”
“Tsk!” Acid Golem hissed. Now his Skill Drain was gone with next to nothing to show for it!
“I’ll end my turn!” Saito announced.
Saito: 1950 --- Acid Golem: 1800
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 6
“My draw!” Acid Golem frowned as he drew his next card. “To keep my puppet’s hide intact, I’ll use up an Overlay Unit on my true from.” One of the two orbiting orbs entered the Acid Golem of Destruction’s chest, negating whatever effects it wanted to stop. “With that out of the way, I’ll attack your Breaker!”
Acid Golem of Destruction raised its arms and sent out another massive stream of acid towards the red magical warrior. Gritting his teeth, Breaker raised his shield in preparation of taking the attack.
“I activate Defender’s effect!” Saito announced.
A Spell Counter in the Citadel turned dark before the energy flew towards Defender’s shield before being deflected towards Breaker. The energy struck Breaker and formed into a protective barrier which the acid splashed harmlessly off of. Some of the deadly liquid continued on and splashed against Saito’s leg, eating through his jeans and making him yelp.
“Darling!” gasped Kirche.
“Too bad damage still goes through,” Acid Golem laughed. “Ah, I haven’t had this much fun for a while. I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth! Turn end!”
Saito: 850 --- Acid Golem: 1800
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 5
“Ore no ta-an!” Saito grimaced as he took a card. This guy was getting arrogant, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have a reason to. His Acid Golem of Destruction was all but untouchable without another one of those weird Numbers monsters to fight it. Maybe he had a shot while Skill Drain was on the field, but the only monster he had that could do that was Endymion and his special effect was negated at the time.
Looking at his hand, Saito couldn’t help but grimace. Just monsters he didn’t need at the moment were already in his hand and would be no use at the moment. His new draw may make all the difference though.
“I play Swords of Revealing Light!” The magic card appeared and caused a Spell Counter to light up before three massive swords made of pure light came down and stabbed the ground in front of the Acid Golem of Destruction. “Three turns! Three turns until you can attack again!”
“Your stall tactics are getting annoying,” Acid Golem growled. “But they aren’t unbeatable.”
“Then break them!” Saito challenged. “Turn end!”
Saito: 850 --- Acid Golem: 1800
Magical Citadel of Endymion SC: 6
“Watch me! Draw!” Acid Golem roared as he took his next card. “I’ll use my last Overlay Unit to keep my effects at bay!” the last Overlay Unit vanished into the Golem’s torso, negating it’s less than useful effects.
Moving on, he began to grin. “Ha! The beginning of the end! I play MY Field Spell Card, Canyon!” A sixth panel appeared from the far left monster zone which Acid Golem slipped the card onto before it retracted into the device.
“No!” Saito cried out, but this was one way which the Citadel could be destroyed without contest. All of the buildings around the group vanished into sparkles of light, leaving only a massive canyon for the two duelists to do battle in.
“Now let’s see if I can’t level the playing field a little,” Acid Golem laughed, moving his next Spell Card onto the field. “Now I’ll play Axe of Fools on myself, giving me 1000 ATK and removing all of my effects!” The Magic Card appeared and generated a massive axe made of polished steel which had a laughing face sculpted into it. (AGOD: 3000 →4000) Acid Golem wasn’t finished though. “While I’m on the field, my wielder cannot Special Summon, but with Axe of Fools doing its job, I can Special Summon again. So to celebrate, I’ll activate Scapegoat, bringing four Sheep Tokens (1/0/0) to my side of the field!”
The card appeared like the Axe and flashed, bringing four colored sheep like the Lamb Tokens to the field. They looked exactly like the Lamb Tokens from before, only more brightly colored in shades of red, yellow, blue, or pink.
“Now that I have at least two monsters to sacrifice, I can give up two of my Sheep Tokens to get an Overlay Unit back,” the pink and red tokens vanished into the machine, sending an Overlay Unit back to the Golem.
“Turn End.” The words were punctuated by one of the three swords fading away, freeing the Golem’s left arm.
Saito: 850 --- Acid Golem: 1800
“My turn!” Saito frowned as he drew his card. “Now I’ll-!”
“No, I’ll activate my Quick-Play Spell Card, Mystical Space Typhoon!” Acid Golem laughed as he revealed his card. “Remove these swords!” Electric energy raced up the remaining two swords and shattered them like glass, freeing the Golem to attack once again.
“Aw crap,” Saito winced.
“But…why didn’t he do that during his turn?” asked Kirche in confusion. “He would have been able to attack.”
“I’m…not sure…” Louise replied.
“Suffering,” Tabitha trembled. “Likes to watch.”
Saito gulped, feeling his legs tremble again and the burning sensation from the acid which touched his legs sure didn’t help. Still, he couldn’t give up and even if he did, he would forfeit his soul and that was bad no matter which way one looked at it.
‘Still, I may have a chance,’ the boy thought to himself, looking at the axe that the Golem was wielding. ‘That card has a serious drawback. Every one of his standby phases are going to force him to pay 500 life points. If I can keep up my stall tactics, I can have him suicide himself and win this!”
“I’ll place a monster in defense mode!” Saito announced, placing a hidden monster on the field in a flash of light. “Then I’ll switch Breaker and Endymion into defense mode!”
“Deciding to run and hide eh?” Acid Golem laughed.
“I end my turn,” the Japanese boy finished, not responding to the ribbing.
Saito: 850 --- Acid Golem: 1800
“Draw!” Acid Golem announced, taking his next card. “Now I don’t have to give up an Overlay Unit this time, but I do have to get rid of 500 life points.” The possessed body gave off a dark aura which had some of it break off and enter the Axe, making it laugh.
“Now I’ll play Monster Reborn to revive Hieracosphinx to my side of the field!” the dark creature announced, bringing the famous card onto the field. The ornate talisman lit up before the light transformed into the form of the falcon-headed beast. “Next, both of my monsters will attack Endymion and Breaker!”
Acid Golem raised its arm and unleashed a stream of acid which flew towards Endymion. Hieracosphinx on the other hand raced towards Defender, ready to shred him into pieces.
“I don’t think so!” Saito announced. “I remove Spell Counters from Defender and Breaker to protect them from destruction!” Both Spellcasters were enveloped in protective barriers which made the light in the final two crystals vanish. The acid splashed harmlessly off of Endymion’s barrier while Hieracosphinx was deflected by the one around Defender. Both monsters halted their assaults and returned to their ready positions.
“It doesn’t matter,” Acid Golem shrugged. “I have you right where I want you. Once your monsters are gone, you will be at my mercy. I won’t even bother to make another Overlay Unit. Turn end!”
Saito: 850 --- Acid Golem: 1300
Saito frowned and drew his next card, but saw that it was not a card he could use to get out of his situation. ‘He’s right,’ he thought treacherously to himself. “Even if that monster effect is gone, nothing I have is strong enough to get rid of that damn Golem. I need a Spell Card to use Endymion’s effect and I don’t have one!” he looked down at the ground. ‘What do I…do?’
‘Don’t you dare say you’re going to quit!’
“H-Huh?” Saitoh blinked, looking up. Did he just hear that?
‘The situation is bleak, but no one I selected to partner with is going to quit when things get tough!’
‘B-but,’ Saito tried to argue, not once asking where the voice in his head was coming from. ‘Nothing I have can destroy that Golem and all I got was a dead draw. Wynn, Hiita, and Spiritual Water Art – Aoi aren’t going to help me!’
‘Then Exceed Summon your Number!’ the voice retorted.
‘But I don’t have one!’ Saito retorted.
‘And those ring markings on your right hand are just a funky decoration?” demanded the voice. ‘You notice the similarity to the one the puppet over there has? It’s more than just a personal vanity! Didn’t you check your pockets even once since you beat the fop?’
“My pockets?” Saitoh blinked. Taking his free hand, Saito began to dig into his pockets to see what the voice was talking about. He felt something immediately, something warm. Grabbing it, he pulled it out to reveal a small rectangle which was glowing. As he looked at the card, the back of his right hand lit up with the dual zeros.
“What the-?-!” Acid Golem gaped, noticing the marking. “Double zero? It can’t be!”
The light from the card faded, revealing an Xyz monster which had four stars and weird symbols for writing. The card then flashed, turning the weird lettering into readable Japanese.
“An…Xyz Monster?” Saito blinked.
‘Yes. Me. Now Exceed Summon me to the field and let’s kick this hunk of rock’s ass!’
Saito blinked, but then turned to look at Acid Golem, who did not look as smug as he did a moment ago. In fact, he was beginning to look more than a little nervous.
“Saito?” Louise asked, wondering why her Familiar wasn’t moving.
“Let’s do this,” Saito spoke to the voice in his head. Looking to the field, he saw the monsters he needed were already on the field. “I’ll Overlay Breaker, the Magical Warrior and Defender, the Magical Knight!”
“What?-!” Kirche and Louise gasped while Tabitha began to tremble, looking at Saito in fear.
Breaker transformed into dark purple energy while Defender changed into bright yellow energy, both soaring into the air. Below them, another galaxy-like portal opened up as the Exceed Summoning began. “Ni tai no Monsutā ga Obarei Nettowāku Kōchiku suru!” the dark and light streams of energy dove down into the eye of the cosmic storm. “Ekushīzu Shoukan!”
A blast of light came from the centre before a large orb painted like the Tao symbol of balance rose up. Light could be seen sunning across its surface like circuit patterns. Circling around the orb were two spheres of yellow light, representing the Overlay Units. Seeing his cue, Saito placed the two Overlay Unit monsters onto the same space before placing his new Xyz Monster on top of them. He then continued his chant.
“Nanbāzu Zero! Watashitachi ni shidō-ken o fuyo! Tao Woriā!”
The orb pulsed before the Yin and Yang sides spread apart from one another, showing off a mechanism inside. The Yin side then inverted so that both rounded ends were facing one another. Both Tao pieces then shifted to look like shoulder pads. The tips then detached and folded down, revealing a black arm and a white arm. The middle section was revealed to be a black and white side with a gem in the centre which looked like a Tao symbol. A pair of metal armored boots came down from the back, revealing a black leg and a white leg with golden bottoms. Finally, a head rose from between the shoulders with a gray mouthplate underneath two golden eyes. The right side of the head was black with a white horn. The left side was white with a black horn. Transformation complete, the right side of the warrior’s chest lit up in gold light which formed into a double zero marking like the one on Saito’s hand. Clenching his fists, Tao Warrior stood tall at a height which matched the Acid Golem of Destruction! (4/2500/2000)
“I give you, my Number 00: Tao Warrior!” Saito bellowed, pointing at Acid Golem with his Number Marking shining.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me!” Acid Golem cursed, his eyes wide and bulging. Even his true form seemed to recoil from the sight of Tao Warrior. “You had HIM this whole time?-! Were you just leading me on from the start?-!”
“Oh don’t I wish,” Saitoh muttered under his breath. Shaking his head, he got back into the duel. “Okay, now I’m going to activate Tao Warrior’s effect!” He slipped Breaker out from underneath Tao Warrior’s card and slipped it into his graveyard. One of the Overlay Units circling Tao Warrior suddenly changed course and fused with the gemstone on his chest, making his body shine with light and shadow, depending on what side.
“By removing an Overlay Unit, I can select one monster on your side of the field and divide its attack points by the number of monsters you have out!” Saito continued. “So, Acid Golem of Destruction, Hieracosphinx, and two Sheep Tokens! That’s four monsters. Acid Golem’s attack divided by four. You do the math!” Tao Warrior seemed to read Saito’s mind as he trained his gaze on Acid Golem of Destruction. “As for me and Tao Warrior, we’ll be moving on! Eternal Balance!”
Tao Warrior inhaled deeply and the aura of light and shadow was sucked into the gem on his chest. The warrior then unleashed a battle cry and shot a tornado of darkness and light across the field which crashed into the Acid Golem.
“NO!” Acid Golem cried as he saw what happened to his body.
Acid Golem of Destruction: (4000 → 1000)
“Darling’s going to win!” Kirche squealed.
“Go Saito!” Louise grinned. Oh she couldn’t wait to rub this in the faces of all her doubters.
“He’s real…” Tabitha gasped, staring up at Tao Warrior.
“Okay Tao Warrior!” Saito called. “Let’s end this! Equilibrium Strike!”
Tao Warrior’s eyes flashed as the tops of his gauntlets extended into a pair of swords. Then from the Warrior’s back came a pair of energy wings, one white and the other black. With a flap of those wings, Tao Warrior soared through the air, both blades collecting power of light and shadow.
“No! No! No!” Acid Golem cried out. “This isn’t fair! I just got out! You can’t lock me up again! No!”
Tao Warrior didn’t listen as he crossed the field in a flash. The Acid Golem of Destruction tried to fight back, but was much too slow. Tao Warrior struck in a flash, cutting through the construct like a hot knife through butter before leaping back. The Golem was effectively quartered with purple acid spilling out from the wounds which soaked many of the smaller golems and turned them to mush. Heat from the cuts then ignited the acid, causing the entire monster to explode.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” the possessed boy bellowed as the force of the explosion sent him sailing backwards onto his back, seemingly unconscious.
Saito: 850 --- Acid Golem: 0
SAITO WINS!
Saito panted as he watched the unmoving body of Guiche, wondering if the boy was free now that Acid Golem of Destruction was destroyed and he had lost the duel. Tao Warrior stood above him, waiting to see if the boy would move for the Golem as well. Both watched silently as Canyon and the other monsters faded from the field. Suddenly, the Acid Duel Disk and the cards which Guiche used turned to energy before vanishing, leaving one card glowing a pale white to hover into the air.
The runes on Saito’s left hand grew hot and his arm jerked up with the palm open as if about to grasp for the card. The glowing card responded to the action and flew towards Saito, letting him capture it. Bringing the card close, the Japanese boy watched the glow fade to reveal the Xyz Monster, Acid Golem of Destruction.
A burning sensation then struck Saito’s right shoulder and he clutched it out of instinct. To the three girls who could see, the symbol of the Golem, that strange red three zero appeared in a shining light. It didn’t stay long before the red light turned golden, becoming free of pain as the red light left it.
“Wh…wha…” Saito tried to gasp out.
‘Acid Golem of Destruction has been defeated in a Numbers Duel and as the rules, his power now belongs to you. Use it wisely,’ Tao Warrior’s voice spoke in the boy’s mind. ‘Rest now. You’ve earned it…Gandalfr.’
His words said, Tao Warrior vanished from the world. As if heralding his departure, the purple golems that Guiche had constructed while he was insane began to fall apart with loud clanging noise, the pieces melting like ice in the sun as soon as they touched the ground. All over Tristain Academy, the golems which the guards and teachers were so futilely attempting to battle suddenly collapsed and dissolved.
Saito dropped to his knees, panting. The wounds he suffered were beginning to catch up to him and the adrenaline was leaving. With so much stress to his nerves as well as pain and adrenaline, only one course of action was left to him.
He passed out.
End Turn…
(LINE BREAK)
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